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American Express Cards Decline

Hi, we use Square to process all our Amex card payments. Quite often the payments decline as they are flagged as suspicious.

 

I then have to ask my customer to call American Express to allow the transaction to occur. This is quite embarrassing and makes my customer a little suspicious of my business. We have successfully traded since 2012 and not had a single chargeback.

 

Why does this occur? Is it because they deem Square to be suspicious or is it us?

 

This never happens with Visa or Mastercard. 

 

My latest customer is one of the worlds leading software companies and I really value their business. They obviously won't put up for it for much longer.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Hey @JoeyJWK,

 

Thanks for getting in touch! 
 

While we're not able to discuss specific transaction information via our seller community, what you're describing is something Amex are doing on their end.

 

Speaking in general terms, this commonly occurs with international credit card transactions. It wouldn't be that Amex specifically consider Square or yourself unsafe - Amex are one of our largest finance partners. If they are indeed international transactions, it's more likely the transactions are being flagged because they have been processed in a location far removed from where the customer's regular card activity is based. 

 

If it's a corporate card, it's also possible that transactions outside the country, or at certain business types, are more heavily restricted and require additional approval. Often the end users of corporate cards are unaware that their own company has intentionally placed restrictions on what sort of businesses the card can be used at. 

 

Unfortunately, as annoying as it is, this is something that falls out of your control and Square's control. I recommend that your customer talks to Amex and checks to see if there are any restrictions on the card and what these are, and whether it's possible to take a more relaxed approach to transactions with your business.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Best Answer

Hey @JoeyJWK,

 

Thanks for getting in touch! 
 

While we're not able to discuss specific transaction information via our seller community, what you're describing is something Amex are doing on their end.

 

Speaking in general terms, this commonly occurs with international credit card transactions. It wouldn't be that Amex specifically consider Square or yourself unsafe - Amex are one of our largest finance partners. If they are indeed international transactions, it's more likely the transactions are being flagged because they have been processed in a location far removed from where the customer's regular card activity is based. 

 

If it's a corporate card, it's also possible that transactions outside the country, or at certain business types, are more heavily restricted and require additional approval. Often the end users of corporate cards are unaware that their own company has intentionally placed restrictions on what sort of businesses the card can be used at. 

 

Unfortunately, as annoying as it is, this is something that falls out of your control and Square's control. I recommend that your customer talks to Amex and checks to see if there are any restrictions on the card and what these are, and whether it's possible to take a more relaxed approach to transactions with your business.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi Sheamus

 

Yes you are right, their HQ is based in the US and we are in Australia so that would make sense.

 

I am not 100% sure about our other transactions though, however, I will continue to monitor and see if you are correct with my other customers too.

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